Susan Loeffler Anderson, Alumni

“I can contribute something that will make a more lasting impact."

For Susan Loeffler Anderson ’67, the pieces began to fall into place during the floods that devastated southeastern Minnesota in 2007.

She found herself in Rushford, a small town about 20 miles from
Winona, wearing yellow boots and shoveling mud out of a flooded
basement. “I thought, ‘This isn’t enough.’ I can contribute something
that will make a more lasting impact.”

Anderson grew up on a farm near Le Center in south central Minnesota,
but she formed a special connection with Rushford when she was a
freshman at Winona State. Two of her floor mates had graduated from
Rushford High School, and Anderson says she identified with them because
“they grew up in a rural community and went to a good public high
school, just as I had.” The longtime friends continue to get together
every year.

As she began to consider how she could do more for her adopted
hometown, Anderson again looked back to her undergraduate days. She
received a scholarship and “was flabbergasted it was there for me. It
gave me a measure of confidence, that I could do it and someone cared.”

She decided to award scholarships to graduates of Rushford-Peterson
High School who planned to attend Winona State. At first, Anderson
focused no further than the first class following the 2007 floods. She
enjoyed selecting and building relationships with her students – much
more than she ever had shoveling post-flood muck – by meeting with the
superintendent of schools and talking with families.

Anderson says she plays the role of an “eccentric aunt” to her
students. She sends regular notes, checks up on their progress, and
stops by to visit if she thinks someone is struggling. Anderson enjoyed
strengthening the connection with Rushford and with Winona State.
“During that first year, I got the feeling that this was valuable and
productive. That it had the possibility of growing.”

The Susan E. Anderson Scholarship is now in its sixth year of making
awards to selected graduates of Rushford-Peterson who choose to attend
Winona State. Students receive an initial grant of $1,000 per semester,
which continues as they maintain a 3.0 GPA. If they fall below a 3.0,
they can become eligible for the scholarship again at any time during
their four years at WSU.

Although the number of students has increased, Anderson remains just
as involved in their lives. On the day of her interview for this story,
she was scheduled to drive to Rushford to visit with the new high school
principal and check up on a student from whom she hadn’t heard in
awhile.

“The students return more to me than I give to them,” says Anderson.
“I’ve been able to strengthen my association with Winona State, with my
friends, with Rushford, with the kind of college student that I was. The
pieces fit together perfectly for me.”